Re: Dorset Spear Fishing 2011
TUNA (northern Bluefin) 35lbs
So it all began with a plan to head up to Portland, Dorset with my dive buddy, James Keith from Cornwall. We were loaded like springs for the rescheduled run of the 2011 LIC Pairs Dive.*
That was until we heard about the event being called off, again, due to the wild weather wonder of the British summer!
After a few calls and advice from Dorset local Ben Garner, we cracked on!
Late saturday afternoon we pushed off from the Castletown slipway to see if the Crystal Vis crew and Parker brothers had left any fish for us!
Well suffice to say it certainly was not Crystal! Saturdays ocean antics closed with a green murk cocktail, capped with 30 knot westerly aeration!
Saturdays one consolation being two sublimely large lamb shish kebabs from one of Weymouth's finest stag and hen eateries!
Sunday dawned with the general melas in the Castletown car park and slipway of a few BSAC clubs getting ready for their pout and bib viewing trips.
James and I were joined by another spearo buddy, Scott, and we suited up and got the kit down onto the gravel as fortunately the Rib was already afloat.*
From here it could have gone either way as I battled to start the motor and keep it idling. Add to this, I was getting nailed by little shocks of electric current coming through the throttle control!
I managed to load the guys up and we shot off across a 35 knot whipped Portland Harbour. We had hopes for at least somewhere to dive.
As we motored over HMS Hood we noticed the swell and Balaclava Bay was even murkier than the previous evening, so it was either work the east side of Portland or go left to the waters outside the harbour. We went left.
We chose a spot and anchored up.*
James jumped in first and promptly reported terrible vis and quote, "it's almost unfishable...". Then Scott joined him and began to have his own scout down current from the boat.
I sat on the boat having got ready and feeling kind of gutted about the apparent conditions, put the bung back on the speartip, sat down and had a drink! I seriously at this point almost decided to just leave the gun onboard and just go and have some exploratory deep dives to see if I could get under the murk. Must have been Neptunes voice I heard in my mind say "always take the gun"....in I jumped.
I began the breathe up for my first dive, just off the boat on the uptide of the two already in.
I folded and began my descent inverted as you have all done many a time. I must have been 4-6m down, when I first saw the first fast mover barely through the 2m murk...now it's sounds a bit crazy but I immediately thought, "bloody hell, that's a big mullet!!!, whoa!?!, what?!?!, huge pollack?!?!?, NO! is it one of those Amberjacks?!?!?, by which time it was turning hard and fast after an arc from right to left, F#%K!!!!! It's a TUNA!!!! There's TWO!!!! I was arching back up and the RA 7mm tip in my 90 came straight up and onto the charge line of the huge head of a storming lead Tuna . Bang! The spear exploded at almost point blank range into the top of the gill plate, down through the bulk, exiting the left flank of the belly. Time stopped momentarily there for me. I just stared at it in utter shock believing I had stoned it. The tuna came to life and I came back into the gravity of the what it was doing in the broken vis. It went ballistic doing multiple wraps of spear line, gun and float line round and round my legs! I fought frantically out of the tangle and away from the crazed *circles this tuna was doing. If I pulled, the fish pulled harder and down! I was getting small breaths when I could surface and so after what seemed an eternity of tugging and finning, I was slowly heading towards the boat. James by now was sat on one of the sponsons and I managed to shout..."I have shot a effin TUNA!!!"*
I honestly got the most nonchalant glance and nod of Yeah right from James. I moved towards the boat and managed to hand up a section of float line to James who suddenly had very big eyes while feeling the pull of this fish but not being able to see it! I grabbed his gun, battling to calm myself for a dive and and possibly put a second shot in. I dived, aimed and missed, while the tuna continued it's *spirals now with added tangle!
The tuna had begun to slow and keep to a certain depth on the tension of the float line. I decided it was time to bring this magnificent fish up and into the boat. I dived down and grabbed the spear and fish securely, finned up and brought him right up to James who have the leverage to heave it up over the sponson and into the back of the boat! YES! Could I relax? No!
Utter shock across the faces of us all. The other two naturally jumped back in and I just sat myself down next to MY TUNA!
Besides an almost comical and literally shocking (as in jolts!), rubber jacket hand wrapped throttle arm, we beached onto the Castletown gravel.*
The faces from the now returned scuba boats was a sight.*
Amazing experience and perhaps I'm rambling on now but this tuna deserves it!
WEIGHED IN AT 15.87KG -Northern Bluefin Tuna Thanks to James, Scott and Titus for the support yesterday. Truly stoked!
Regards to all.
Brett
... As it turns out the gun works VERY well, not sure I want go give it to him now...
